Thursday, February 4, 2016

The United States as the Land of Promise –Part III

Continuing
from the previous post regarding the condition of the United States at the time
Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith regarding information about plates on which was
recorded information about a people of this continent and land and from whence
they sprang. Also, what exactly was meant by “this continent.”

During
four separate trips that began in 1492, Columbus landed on various Caribbean
islands that are now the Bahamas as well as Cuba and the island later called
Hispaniola, and the greater and lesser Antilles. He also explored the coast of
Venezuela in South America, and later the Central American coasts of Honduras,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama

First,
let us dispel the erroneous idea that Columbus discovered the United States. He
did, in fact, discover the Americas for Europeans, but not the actual land we now know as the
United States. As we see in 1 Nephi 13:12, the Spirit was to lead a man to the
Land of Promise. In the 1879 Book of Mormon, Orson Pratt added the footnote
which named this “gentile” as Christopher Columbus. Columbus himself set forth the
view of himself as the fulfiller of biblical prophecies and of fulfilling the
“islands of the sea” passages from Isaiah—writing in 1500, Columbus stated that
God “made me the messenger of the new heaven an the new earth, He showed me the
spot where to find it” (Grant R. Hardy, “Columbus: By Faith or Reason?” in Re-Exploring the book of Mormon, ed
John W. Welch, Deseret Book, 1992, ch 9).Unfortunately,
the prevailing opinion seems to be among many people and specifically among
many theorist of the U.S. as the Land of Promise, that Columbus discovered
America, or the United States. But in all actuality, Christopher Columbus
discovered islands in the Caribbean, and Central and South America. He never
stepped foot on what we now know as the United States, or even North America
(Canada, U.S., Mexico).

Yellow Arrows show the Macuro
cove—Columbus’ landing site—on the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela in South
America where he landed, planted the flag, and explored the mainland and
Orinoco River, as well as the Paria Gulf, which was originally named Gulf of
the Whale (Golfo de la Ballena) until the whales were eliminated, then the Sad
Gulf (Golfo Triste)His
first two voyages were only to the Bahamas, his third voyage was to the Bahamas
and the Northern portion of South America, where he planted the flag on the
Paria Peninsula in present-day Venezuela in South America, on August 1, 1498,
and his fourth voyage was to the Bahamas and Central America. If 1 Nephi 13:12
is referring to Christopher Columbus, that would mean the land he discovered
was part of the “promised land.”Obviously,
when Nephi saw Columbus crossing the ocean he states the explorer went forth “unto the seed of my brethren, who were in
the promised land” (1 Nephi 13:12), he had to have been referring to a much
larger area than the United States, since Columbus never set foot on the United
States nor did he see any of the seed of Nephi’s brethren except in those areas
he landed, including Central and South America.Thus,
Columbus’ voyage alone should dispel any thought that the United States is the entire and complete Land of Promise, excluding all other parts of the Americas. Now,
as for the Continent, it might be of interest that President James Monroe’s
1823 (the year Moroni visited Joseph Smith for the first time) annual message to Congress contained what has become known as the Monroe
Doctrine—presented by him in December 1823, warning European powers not to
interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere and that the United States
would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs. While the doctrine
was conceived politically to meet major concerns of the moment, it soon became
a watchword of US. Policy in the Western Hemisphere.It
should also be of interest to note that in a talk by Ezra Taft Benson, as
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in October Conference 1979, A
Witness and a Warning” he said, “In the decade prior to the restoration of the
gospel, many countries of South America fought wars of independence to free
themselves from European rule. Russia, Austria, and Prussia, however urged
France to aid Spain and Portugal to restore their monarchies in South America.
This effort was repulsed by a proclamation from the United States government
known as the Monroe Doctrine…the Lord has promised, “I will fortify this land against
all other nations” (2 Nephi 10:12).”

James Monroe discussing his doctrine
that became U.S. policy of protectionism to the Western Hemisphere in 1823Joseph
Fielding Smith stated that “the greatest and most powerful fortification in
America is the ‘Monroe Doctrine’…It was the inspiration of the Almighty which
rested upon John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson and other statesmen, and which
finally found authoritative expression in the message of James Monroe to
Congress in the year 1823” (The Progress Of Man, Salt Lake City, Deseret
Book Co., pp. 466–67).Elder
Benson also said, “The Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1789.
The priesthood of God was restored in 1829. Between those two dates is an
interval of forty years. It is my conviction that God, who knows the end from
the beginning, provided that period of time so the new nation could grow in
strength to protect the land of Zion.” Obviously, it has fallen to the United
States to be the protectorate of the Western Hemisphere, or Land of Promise, as
it was the Nephite Nation on a much smaller scale anciently.Orson Hyde, an early LDS leader and contemporary of Joseph Smith
said in 1853 that “this land would be a land of liberty” (2 Nephi 10:11) referred “to
both North and South America and also the families of islands that
geographically and naturally belong and adhere to the same”(JD 7:108).

President Wilford
Woodruff prophesied that temples would “appear all over this land of Joseph,
North and South America” (JD,
19:230). Joseph Smith said that “the whole of America is Zion itself from north
to south”(TPJS 362). President Spencer W. Kimball tied all these thoughts
together as he reminded the Saints in Brazil and Argentina that “Zion was all
of North and South America, like the wide, spreading wings of a great eagle,
the one being North and the other South America” (CR April 1975: 3-9). Wilford
Woodruff stated: “This land, North and South America, is the land of Zion; it
is a choice land—the land that was given by promise from old father Jacob to
his grandson and his descendants, the land on which the Zion of God should be
established in the latter days” (JD
12 January 1873, 15:279). Orson Pratt added: “And the Lord gave unto them the
whole continent, for a land of promise….” (CR April 1947, p67). Ezra Taft Benson, said: “To the peoples who
should inhabit this blessed land of the Americas, the Western Hemisphere, an
ancient prophet uttered this significant promise and solemn warning:
"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it
shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations
under heaven if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ .
. .” (The Lords Base of Operations, CR, April 1962, pp103-106).

President
Joseph Fielding Smith explained that all of North and South America is a choice
land: “The Book of Mormon informs us that the whole of America, both North and
South, is a choice land above all other lands, in other words—Zion. The
Lord told the Jaredites that he would lead them to a land ‘which is choice
above all the lands of the earth’ [Ether 1:42 (Doctrines of Salvation,
comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 3:73). Orson Pratt and
John Taylor in a pamphlet said: “The western world, including both North and South America, is the
land of promise to the remnant of Joseph” (pamphlet “divine authenticity of the
Book of Mormon”). Said Elder Andrew Jenson, Church Historian's Officer, Conference Report, October 1921, p120,
“We, therefore cast a glance southward into old Mexico and through the great
countries beyond—down through Central America and South America, where there
are millions and millions of Lamanites, direct descendants of Father
Lehi." Spencer W. Kimball added, "About twenty-five centuries ago, a
hardy group left the comforts of a great city, crossed a desert, braved an
ocean, and came to the shores of this, their promised land. There were two
large families, those of Lehi and Ishmael, who in not many centuries numbered
hundreds of millions of people on these two American continents” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball,
p. 601)

Obviously,
the Lord had a special plan that involved the freedoms of America, for it was there that
an environment of religious liberty was prepared in which the Book of Mormon
could eventually be brought forth, the Church of Jesus Christ could be
established, and other aspects of the restoration of the gospel could commence.
Nephi's vision, however, did not end there but was expanded to include all
Gentiles upon the land to whom the blessings of the Book of Mormon and the
restoration would eventually be taken, who would, like that first group, have
the opportunity to receive the gospel and help gather and be numbered with the
remnant of Lehi's seed. Obviously, the U.S. would play a primary and all
important role in this, but that does not mean that the mandate that the Book
of Mormon events took place in Joseph Smith’s immediate vicinity. And as we can
see from all these comments, it most certainly included all of the Western
Hemisphere, both North and South America.